I'm going to venture to say that Xango is referring to "closed guard". But lately I've found myself pulling all sorts of open, butterfly, and spiders guards, after I had only been doing closed guard for months. I even managed to pull triangles, but everyone caught on to that.

I don't (yet) have any super science to this, I just grab wrist(s)/lapel(s)/behind the head/underhook(s)/overhook(s), and stick one or both feet on a knee(s)/hip(s)/elbow(s), etc. and go from there.

11/23/2004 4:11pm,

Aesopian

Whenever I get my competition footage, you'll all get to some some stellar guard pulling.

11/23/2004 4:28pm,

Xango

These are all good tips, JKDChick's especially. Keep 'em coming!

Yes, I am talking essentially about closed guard, which is even more useful in competition Judo than in BJJ. I'll work on other weird stuff when I get the hang of that.

11/23/2004 4:48pm,

Te No Kage!

In our ne waza class, I'll try to pull guard or go for top control about 50/50. I don't like to pull guard every single time, but I did learn a trick from the last time that Adriano Lucio was here. When rolling and starting from knees, I usually start with my knees pointing forward with my feet behind me. I noticed that everytime I rolled with Adriano he was always able to get right into an open guard (rubber, spider, butterfly, etc.). Anyways, I noticed that he always started in the same stance when rolling from knees. He would bring one foot up to the other knee so that he would be kneeling as if he was applying the triangle. I think this gave him more mobility so that he could spring forward or fall backward with equal speed. When I don't have my head in my ass, I try to do this sometimes and it works pretty good if you want to easily get into the guard. I find that the only important part of the upstairs portion is that you have gripped at least something and are pulling it in whether it be lapel, shoulder, or underhook.

11/23/2004 4:53pm,

TylerDurden

You can grip the lapels and put a foot on their hip as you fall back. The tension between your foot and the lapel pull lets you control their movement as you establish guard.

11/23/2004 5:00pm,

JohnnyS

To pull guard, you want to start with one knee up. Keep the foot of the knee that is up close to your butt and try to stay compact.

The number one thing you need to do to pull guard successfully from knees - and this is for any guard - is to get your grips first. If I fall back without my grips the guy can control my knees and work his pass straight away. So if for example you like butterfly guard, grab his belt and sleeve, or sleeve and the pants at his knees, or get an underhook and wrist control of his other hand.

If you want to play closed guard, then work your pummeling so you can get an overhook and underhook or double overhooks, then pull guard. He now won't be able to grab your legs and stop himself being pulled forward.

11/23/2004 5:10pm,

Greese

Yeah, I always have one knee advanced. Don't marry yourseld to the idea of getting a certain guard. Closed guard, open, butterfly, its all good. I tend to pull guard so I don't use my size advantage to just push them over and squish them.

11/23/2004 5:22pm,

JohnnyS

greese1,
If you want to get really good, you'll have to eventually stick to one guard, at least for a while. That way you will learn all the "ins and outs" of that position. One of the essential things a person needs in order to have a good guard, is a goal. So if your goal is butterfly sweep, then you should be pulling butterfly guard, and learning how to get butterfly guard from the other guards. If you don't have a goal, then all you're doing is reacting by trying to stop the guy passing, and if he's the one pushing the buttons then he'll eventually pass. If you have a goal, then you're attacking for that position, and you're the one pushing the buttons and he has to react to you.

11/23/2004 5:26pm,

Shuma-Gorath

I've actually had limited success wheeling people over my extended leg and under my mount. It's like a kneeling hiza guruma and usually only works once.

Since I'm a white belt I don't usually start in guard, but I've noticed that the advanced guys will usually just take a seated position and play open guard. Some of the blues pull me into closed guard for whatever reason; probably a lack of faith in their open guard.